Life feels especially stressful these days. Whether we’re reacting to world events, personal situations or just the upcoming holidays, it’s easy to become anxious, overwhelmed and scattered. That’s why my talented writer friend Megy Karydes‘ upcoming book—50 Ways to More Calm, Less Stress—is so timely. Her book is filled with refreshing, uplifting practices that are scientifically proven to help navigate life more serenely by tuning out negativity and tuning into our senses.
The book will be released on December 26th, 2023, and is available for pre-order now. But it’s never too soon to start considering ways to take good care of ourselves.
I met Megy over ten years ago through a mutual friend when we attended a journalism conference in New York City together. Even then, Megy was a dynamo, running her own marketing consulting business, writing for a variety of clients and publications and parenting two young kids. Now, at 50, her responsibilities have expanded, including teaching graduate level courses at Johns Hopkins University. 50 Ways to More Calm, Less Stress is her first book, and the idea came from her frustration with trying to find ways to effectively manage her busy life while suffering from seasonal affective disorder each winter.
“Everyone kept telling me to try yoga—it’ll calm my body, it will calm my mind. I tried it so many times and it didn’t work for me. What I realized is that I’m a more active person. I enjoy kickboxing, I like the feeling of that hitting, of getting things out.”
Through her experiences, Megy realized that a technique that’s nurturing to one person might be meaningless or annoying to another. We’re all wired differently. So she compiled a wide variety of science backed tools that promote calm. The common element in all the practices of 50 Ways to More Calm, Less Stress is they involve focusing on one or more of our senses, which is essential to feeling grounded. “The point is being present,” says Megy. “It’s about not being in your head all the time, which is exactly what you need in order to calm the body and mind.”
Megy recommends using the book as a resource—a menu of sorts—to pick different practices and find what works best for you. “We all gravitate toward something. So if you’re more audibly inclined, you’re going to want to try something like listening to a podcast or white noise. If you tend to like scent, look at that chapter. I’m very tactile, so journal writing every morning is my form of meditation. It’s more active based. The point of the book is, here are 50 things you can try. One of them is probably going to work for you.”
Some of the tools presented in 50 Ways to More Calm, Less Stress are familiar pursuits—like gardening, doodling, baking bread and dancing. Others, like creating a tea ritual, taking sound baths, or floatation (you should try it!) are more esoteric. But these ideas aren’t woo-woo, they’re proven to promote calm. “There are 50 tips and each one is supported by science,” says Megy. “I cite over 130 research studies in the book and I interviewed 57 people.” After she presents each technique, she provides tips how to get started with it. Nothing requires a big investment.
Megy’s work inspired me to open a 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle that my son Nick gave me last year. According to the book, working jigsaw puzzles is proven to improve cognition and also reduces stress because the intense focus required to do the puzzle blocks out worries and distractions. No kidding! I was quickly obsessed—linking each new piece gave me a spark of pleasure. I found it engaging and soothing, and my screen time on my iPhone has gone down significantly. I look forward to trying many of the other tools in the book as well.
This is my first post in a while. I’ve been going through a low point myself. A very dear friend died in a car accident seven weeks ago, and it has been hard to muster my usual optimism and enthusiasm for the blog. It feels right that my reentry to Fully Fabulous is discussing this helpful book. We need to integrate healthy, uplifting practices in our lives, and prioritize taking care of our mental state.
Megy’s accessible, well-researched tips makes it easy to do more of that. You can pre-order her book here. It will arrive just in time to get 2024 off to a fresh start. Until then, pay attention to your senses and take good care of yourself!
Fully Fabulous 
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